Why I hated school.

Skipping my 20 year reunion last week, and all of the back to school posts that I have seen recently has gotten me to thinking about why school was such a miserable experience.  For the most part I blame the teachers & principals. Either I was cursed with the worst run of horrible human beings to ever go into education, or there are way to many people in the field for all of the wrong reasons.  Out of all of the teachers and principals I encountered in 12 years of school, only 4 or 5 actually had a positive impact on me.  Of the rest there were 10 or 12 that I absolutely hated, either because they were total bullies on an ego trip getting off on pushing kids around, or they were too busy trying to force their own personal beliefs down our throats to actually teach a class. To be honest I can only remember about 20 of my teachers names, most of the rest were fairly disengaged, going thru the motions until retirement and enjoying their summers off, and not even leaving enough of an impression for me to remember them as an adult.  While I will fully admit I was no saint I would say that 85% of the trouble I got into in school was a reaction to their Bull Shit, or due to the reputation I had earned for standing up to it.  15% I probably totally deserved.  These experiences are a huge part of why I like hanging out with all of the kids at the track, because they need to know there are adults out there who do care about them, and not all grown ups are assholes.  It is also a large part of why I never want to have kids of my own.  Some of the emotional scars inflicted on me by the people who were supposed to be molding & nurturing my development will never heal, and I know that if somebody ever did or said some of those things to my kid I would end up in jail. Now as an adult, I actually have a number of friends who work in Education.  It is my sincere hope that all of you are like the 4 or 5 good teachers I had, and that I have not somehow made friends with the enemy.  Please remember that you are supposed to be a positive influence on the kids in your classrooms, and it is about them, not you.  I know you all to be good people outside of work, and for the sake of future generations I like to think all of you are just as awesome in the classroom.